8.30pm Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohammed al-Douri, says "the game is over" and he hopes the Iraqi people soon will be able to live in peace. He is the first senior Iraqi official to admit that Saddam Hussein no longer controls Baghdad.

7.15pm US Vice President Dick Cheney says talks will soon be held with exiled Iraqis and local leaders to begin planning for a temporary Iraqi government

6.35pm US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld describes the earlier scenes in Baghdad as breathtaking, but warns that fighting will continue for some time

3.51pm Commander of the US 3rd Infantry Division, General Buford Blount, says the heart of Baghdad has been secured and the "end of the combat phase is days away"

3.22pm Spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair says Downing Street is "delighted" with scenes it has seen from across Iraq

2.52pm US armoured personnel carrier pulls down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein in al-Fardus (Paradise) Square, central Baghdad, to the cheers of jubilant Iraqis.

2.15pm President Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, says "The scenes on TV show the thirst for freedom is unquenchable."

2.00pm US Vice-President Dick Cheney says the campaign in Iraq "is proceeding with speed and success".

12.31pm US tanks arrive at the Palestine Hotel in the centre of Baghdad, where most of reporters covering the war are based.

11.29am US military spokesman Brigadier General Vincent Brooks says loyal people to President Saddam in the north - including his hometown of Tirkit - are still a threat and "any fighting there... would be similar to what we have seen in other parts of the country."

11.18am A BBC journalist in Baghdad says there has been a lot of gunfire as shopkeepers try to defend their property and rival gangs of looters fight over the goods.

11.06am UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says any surrender by the Saddam Hussein's government must come from someone with the proper authority.

10.38am The headquarters of the Iraqi Olympic Committee - which is run by President Saddam's son Uday - have been set on fire, a BBC journalists says.

10.19am "The command and control in Baghdad appears to have disintegrated," UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman says. But he warns the coalition could still face "fierce" resistance.

10.04am US troops entering Baghdad from the northwest meet resistance from Iraqi forces.

9.40am Red Cross spokeswoman in Geneva the BBC that the agency's staff can't work in Baghdad on Wednesday, because it's too dangerous to move around.

9.30am US military spokesman at Central Command Captain Frank Thorpe says the coalition is still cautious and warns of tough days ahead.

8.55am There are scenes of joy in the Kurdish-held town of Irbil in northern Iraq.

8.50am Senior British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood says it is too early to say that the Iraqi regime has crumbled.

8.20am Looting breaks out in Baghdad as there are no signs of uniformed Iraqi soldiers and police on the streets of the city. BBC journalists say hundreds of cheering Iraqi civilians - chanting pro-American and anti-Saddam slogans - welcome US Marines advancing into Baghdad from the east.

7.02am US and British forces say they are planning to hold a regional conference soon to find a political leadership for the whole of southern Iraq.

6.52am BBC journalists in Baghdad say their activities are no longer being watched by Iraqi minders and they can freely move around the city for the first time since the start of the war.

6.50am US marines in eastern Iraq say they have taken control of the headquarters of the Iraqi 10th Armoured Division near the town of Amarah without a fight.

6.30am US and Kurdish forces have captured control of an important mountain from which Iraqis have been defending the northern city of Mosul, a senior Kurdish official says.

4.40am Abu Dhabi TV says 27 of its employees in Baghdad spent the "night under siege", and are waiting to be moved from what it called "the besieged area" in which US and Iraqi forces were firing at each other.

4.25am US marines are strengthening positions in eastern Iraq taken without resistance on Tuesday, and are close to being able to link up with British troops coming from Basra in the south, opening an eastern supply corridor to Baghdad.

3.40am Some of heavy firing as well breaks of calm reported in the centre of Baghdad.

3.30am Sound of gunfire heard shortly after daybreak in Baghdad.

1.30am Ex-Indian royal offers to pay for medical treatment to fit 12-year-old Iraqi boy with artificial arms, after a missile hit his Baghdad home and caused severe injuries.

12.40am US military spokesman warns of swift and serious consequences if Iraqi forces don't obey Geneva conventions, as two airmen are missing after their F-15E plane went down on Sunday.

Tuesday 8 April

11.10pm US lists two airmen as missing in action, after their F-15E plane went down on Sunday.

10.05pm A group of journalists from the Abu Dhabi satellite television channel appeal for help from the Red Cross, saying they were caught in the fighting between American and Iraqi troops and could not leave their office in central Baghdad.

7.30pm Journalists in Baghdad report more heavy bombing of the city after darkness falls.

7.10pm President George W Bush says the United Nations will play a vital role in Iraq after the war, working with the US and Britain to help set up an interim Iraqi government.

6.30pm British military spokesman in Basra says the British will support a local sheikh trying to stop looting in the city. The army hopes to develop "post-conflict nation building" operations within a day or so.

6.10pm US marines make a large move east in central Iraq and now control a region around Amarah, a town halfway between Basra and Baghdad, although they have not yet entered the town.

6.05pm Pentagon says it believes Iraqi Special Republican Guard still has 'great potential for some sharp fights'.

5.58pm Pentagon says Iraqi leadership still giving orders but they 'do not seem very coordinated'.

4.50pm UK security sources tell the BBC that they do not believe Saddam Hussein is dead.

4.32pm A stray rocket, apparently fired in the war in neighbouring Iraq, kills one person in south-western Iran, the third such case since war began.

4.00pm French President Jacques Chirac says the UN must play a central role in the reconstruction of Iraq.

2.22pm The Palestinian Authority says its diplomatic mission in Baghdad has been badly damaged by a missile from a US warplane.

1.42pm Spanish cameraman dies after a US tank shelled Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, where many journalists are staying.

1.37pm Kurdish soldiers backed by US special forces are gradually advancing on the Iraqi-controlled towns of Kirkuk and Mosul in the north.

12.35pm Iranian students throw petrol bombs at UK Embassy in Tehran.

12.26pm The leader of Iraq's main Shia Muslim opposition group announces he will return home after living in exile for more than two decades.

12.02pm Medical supplies in Baghdad are critically low and hospitals stretched to the limit coping with casualties says the Red Cross.

11.48am The International Federation of Journalists angry with both sides in the Iraq war about the number of reporters killed and says those responsible must be brought to justice.

11.35am Reuters cameraman dies after a US tank attacked Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, the main base for foreign media in the city.

11.32am US marines capture the Rashid military airfield on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, meeting no resistance. The airfield is five kilometres from the city centre.

10.53am US military confirm the A-10 ground attack plane lost over Baghdad was shot down.

10.20am US President George Bush says an temporary government of Iraqis from both inside and outside the country will be set up as quickly as possible. The UN, he adds, will have a vital role to play in rebuilding Iraq.

10.00am A US tank fired a single round at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel in response to fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Four Reuters staff and a Spanish cameraman were wounded.

09.40am Two Polish journalists captured by Iraqi forces on Monday escape their captors and reach safety in the central Iraqi city of Najaf.

08.53am The BBC's Rageh Omaar says a mortar bomb appears to have caused the blast at the Palestine Hotel and the building was not deliberately targeted.

08.42am A US A-10 ground attack plane comes down near Baghdad international airport. The pilot, who ejected, has been recovered and is in good condition.

08.37am Reuters confirms that four of its staff - a reporter, photographer, TV cameraman and TV technician - were wounded in the Palestine Hotel blast and are now in hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.

08.25am Iraqi Information Minister tells reporters that US forces must surrender or "be burned in their tanks".

2.35am US officials say the air strike against the Iraqi president was carried out at 10.00am (British time) on Monday, by a single B-1B bomber. One official says: "there is a big hole where that target used to be", but it is not known about casualties.

1.55am The Pentagon says US warplanes have targeted Baghdad location where Saddam Hussein, his two sons and other top Iraqi leaders are thought to be.

1.00am Five huge explosions heard in western Baghdad, around presidential palace and fire is blazing in the area, reports one news agency.

12.55am Explosions and machine gun fire heard at Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace held by US forces, according to a journalist, who said it seemed as if Iraqi forces were bombarding the compound.

Monday 7 April

11.20pm Gulf Co-operation Council foreign ministers call for Iraqis to be allowed to run their own country when fighting finishes.

10.30pm Al-Jazeera reports the Palestinian embassy in Baghdad has come under bombardment by US and UK forces.

10.10pm Kurdish leader welcomes the reported death of Ali Hassan al-Majid, nicknamed "Chemical Ali", who ordered the 1988 gas attack on Halabja. But the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's Barham Salih said he would have "preferred to see him respond to his crimes before an international criminal court".

9.30pm United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says the UN is central to any interim government in Iraq.

6.30pm US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Saddam Hussein "no longer runs much of Iraq", though his it's not known where he is.

6.05pm Firefight breaks out in the centre of Nasiriya - it is believed the fighting is between Iraqi groups, possibly between Fedayeen members faithful to Saddam Hussein and people opposed to him.

6.00pm US officials say first tests on chemicals found near the Iraqi city of Karbala suggest they may contain nerve agents.

5.30pm US President George Bush arrives in Belfast for key war summit with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

5.05pm Medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says two of its workers are missing in Baghdad.

3.47pm Polish media say two journalists have been kidnapped by Iraqis south of Baghdad.

2.35pm Commander of the allied forces, General Tommy Franks, visited troops in Iraq.

2.30pm UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says he expects the UN to play an important role in post-war Iraq.

1.30pm Iraqi television shows Saddam Hussein and his son Qusay meeting top officials.

12.27pm Two US soldiers and two journalists are killed and 15 wounded in an Iraqi rocket attack on a US communications centre south of Baghdad, says the US military.

11.55am British forces take control of Basra, after killing 300 Iraqi soldiers inside the city.

11.50am Heavy bombing reported across Baghdad.

11.20amUS military says it's destroyed an Iraqi column of tanks, and other armoured vehicles north-west of Baghdad, preventing them from reinforcing the city.

11.00am Special forces carrying out "unconventional warfare" in southern, northern and central Iraq, says the US central command.

10.20am Several US soldiers are wounded in Iraqi missile attack on American base in southern outskirts of Baghdad

10am At least two US marines are killed in fighting at a bridge over the River Tigris in Baghdad

8.40am A journalist has described an area of Baghdad that includes residential housing as a "battle zone" as US and Iraqi forces fight in the heart of the city.

7.40am US marines are entering Baghdad from the south-east, US military spokesmen say.

7.25am A BBC journalist in Basra says British commanders there are convinced that they have killed the Iraqi commander Ali Hassan al-Majid - known as "Chemical Ali" - but there has been no confirmation that he is dead.

7.20am A BBC journalist says UK paratroopers are storming the old town of Basra.

7.05am Television pictures from the northern city of Mosul show it coming under heavy bombardment.

7.00am US Central Command spokesman says operation in Baghdad is "an armoured raid through the city" and goal is not to take ground.

6.30am Iraq's information minister gives a press conference in central Baghdad at which he claims US armoured columns have been forced out of the city - as journalists report continued fighting.

6.25am A journalist for a news agency says the Iraqi information ministry and the foreign ministry are firmly in Iraqi government hands and that heavily armed units of the Iraqi Republican Guard have taken up positions in the area.

6.00am US Defence Department and Central Command sources say the Baghdad attacks are a "show of force" and not the "battle for Baghdad".

5.50am A BBC journalist says a fierce gun battle is in happening by the banks of the River Tigris.

5.40am US troops report only bits of resistance as they take control of one of the presidential palaces.

5.20am US army colonel interviewed outside a presidential palace in Baghdad says US forces have control of the centre of the city and the heart of the Iraqi Government structure.

5.15am US troops reported to have taken one of the presidential palaces in central Baghdad as more than 100 tanks and armoured vehicles pour into the city, supported by A-10 "tankbuster" aircraft.

4.55am BBC journalist Rageh Omaar says he can see US armoured personnel carriers near a presidential palace, where a fierce battle is going on.

4.32am US tanks and armoured vehicles are attacking targets in central Baghdad, American military officials say.

6.26pm US forces say they have taken control of the central Iraqi city of Karbala after two days of fierce battles. A US spokesman says US troops fought street-to-street and were confident there was no further threat of an Iraqi attack.

5.15pm The first US military aircraft - reportedly a C-130 cargo plane - lands at Baghdad's airport, US military officials say

3pm A senior US military commander says the Iraqi army defending Baghdad is now struggling to assemble 1,000 soldiers for each battle

1.50pm US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz says it will take more than six months for an Iraqi government to be created to run the country after the defeat of Saddam Hussein's regime

11.30am The coalition holds more than 6,000 Iraqi POWs, the US military says.

11.20am The US military says it has captured and killed a number of foreign fighters during clashes in Iraq, and that it destroyed a camp at Salman Pak believed to have been used by the Iraqi regime to train foreign volunteers in terrorist tactics

10.45am: Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf says Iraq has killed 50 US troops and destroyed at least six US tanks close to Baghdad international airport overnight. He again denied US troops had taken control of the airport

10.11am Reports say a convoy taking the Russian ambassador out of Iraq has been attacked on the road to the Syrian border

8.50amThe US military says its forces have killed between 2,000 and 3,000 Iraqi fighters in Baghdad since US troops attacked the city's outskirts

8.50am British tanks are reported to have entered the centre of Iraq's second city, Basra.

8.30am A US plane drops a bomb on a convoy of US special forces and Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq in a "friendly fire" incident, says the BBC's John Simpson who is travelling with the convoy

6.55am A column of 2,000 US vehicles moves into the outskirts of Baghdad to join two similar formations already operating in the south-west of the city

6.30am Iraqi television says the authorities will impose a travel ban in and out of Baghdad from 6pm to 6am local time, beginning on Sunday night

1.44am Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who sent 2,000 troops to fight with the US-led coalition, warns that the war may yet go on for "some time"

12.07am Al-Jazeera television reports that Republican Guard units are on the streets of Baghdad

Saturday 5 April

4.10pm Iraqi Republican Guard units around Baghdad no longer work as an organised force, a senior US military spokesman says

4.07pm US combat aircraft begin 24-hour-a-day patrols over Baghdad to provide close air support for US ground troops

3.06pm In his weekly radio address, US President George W. Bush says American troops "will not stop until Iraq is free"

1.10pm The BBC's correspondents in Baghdad say they have not seen any presence of US troops in the city centre.

11.10am Iraq's claim to have retaken Baghdad's main airport is "groundless", US Central Command says

9.30am Iraqi information minister denies that US troops have entered central Baghdad and says American forces have been expelled from the city's main airport

8.45am A "significant number" of US troops are entering Baghdad and they are not just on a brief patrol, US Central Command forward headquarters in Qatar says

8am US forces say they have captured the headquarters of the Republican Guard's Medina Division, south of Baghdad

5.10am Reuters report that a US officer has said that first tests of a white powder found in thousands of boxes near the Iraqi capital indicated it was not a chemical weapon

4.30am Up to eight US Abrams tanks begin reconnaissance mission in the southern outskirts of Baghdad, making furthest land advance yet into the capital

4am Two US marine pilots have been killed when their AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq early on Saturday morning, US military said

2am Three large explosions rock the south-eastern outskirts of Baghdad, a Reuters correspondent said

12.55am US National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice says coalition forces and not the UN will play the leading role in Iraq after the war, at least in the short-term.

Friday 4 April

7.00pm Arab satellite TV Al-Jazeera goes back on air in Iraq after authorities lift a ban on two of its reporters.

6.30pm The Washington Post newspaper says Michael Kelly, a journalist with the paper, was been killed in an accident while travelling with US troops in Iraq.

5.30pm Iraqi TV has shown film of what it said was President Saddam Hussein visiting areas in Baghdad on Friday. He was mobbed by cheering people. Some of them kissed him on his cheeks and hands, and he held up a small child.

5.55pm George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are to meet in Northern Ireland on Monday and Tuesday. They are will discuss the war in Iraq, the Middle East and Northern Ireland.

5.35pm Electricity is back on in some parts of Baghdad nearly 24 hours after power supplies were cut.

4.40pm Saddam Hussein has made a television appearance telling Iraqi people to hit back against US troops surrounding Baghdad.

3.55pm Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf says US forces at Baghdad's main airport are surrounded. He says Iraqi military is preparing to launch "non-conventional" attacks later on Friday but he added they had no plans to use chemical of biological weapons.

3.25pm The first emergency convoy from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has crossed from Turkey into Northern Iraq.

3.15pm Journalists with Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq say massive plumes of smoke are rising from oilfields near the town of Kirkuk. They say it is not clear whether oil wells are ablaze or Iraqi defenders have set fire to oil-filled ditches.

1.00pm French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin says the UN must play a key role in Iraq.

12.54pm US officers say they have found thousands of boxes containing vials of white powder and liquid at a "suspicious site" near Latifiya south of Baghdad.

12.34pm US Central Command says a car exploded near a checkpoint on Thursday night, killing three of their soldiers. A US military spokesman says the blast appears to be a suicide attack

10.50am US Marines close to Baghdad report that about 2,500 Republican Guards surrendered overnight. US Central Command spokesman Navy Capt. Frank Thorp says there is no outright confirmation of the report

10.30am Tony Blair writes a letter to the Iraqi people saying that after the war Iraq will be run by Iraqis and that UK troops "will not stay a day longer than necessary".

9.30am Another statement from Saddam Hussein is read out by a member of his government. It says that victory "is within our grasp" and the US-led coalition will be "humiliated"

8.25am United Nations Aid Agencies return to southern Iraq, for the first time since pulling out in March

7.10am Journalists in Iraq say US soldiers at Baghdad Airport are facing attacks from Iraqi soldiers

4.20am US Army intelligence officer says 80% of Baghdad airport in American control

3.30am US claim complete control of Baghdad's international airport, called Saddam International

1.40am US soldier killed by friendly fire after being mistaken for an Iraqi soldier

12.10am US military shows footage of what it says was a raid on Tharthar presidential palace, 90km from Baghdad. The US military says there is increasing evidence the Iraqi regime is losing command and control over the country.